The present invention relates to machining equipment. Specifically, the present invention provides a machining apparatus and a method of using the same. The machining apparatus of the present invention includes a work piece holder for attaching a work piece to a machine tool spindle.
Milled work pieces were typically manufactured using a milling machine having a rotating spindle and a machine table. Unfinished work pieces were loaded onto the machine table, either manually or automatically using a robot. The work pieces were held stationary on the machine table using a holding mechanism. A cutting tool was loaded into the rotating spindle and was brought into contact with the work piece via movements of the machine table and the spindle. If more than one tool was required to finish the work piece, the first tool would need to be removed from the spindle and the second tool loaded into the spindle. Such tool changes were time consuming. An average tool change took approximately six seconds. Naturally, the production time wasted on tool changes correlated directly with the number of tools required to machine a particular work piece. Therefore, the greater number of tools required to complete a particular work piece, the more production time was wasted on tool changes.
The present invention provides a machining apparatus and a method of using the same. The apparatus of the present invention includes a work piece holder that utilizes the drawbar action of a spindle to actuate a collet for grasping and releasing a work piece. The apparatus of the present invention may further include a fixture block mounted to a machine table for holding tools to process a work piece and a work piece transfer device for transferring work pieces from an incoming conveyor to the machine table. The method of the present invention includes mounting tools to a fixture block, mounting an unprocessed work piece within the work piece holder attached to the spindle and processing the work piece.
It is an advantage of the present invention to provide a work piece holder for mounting a work piece on a spindle.
It is another advantage of the present invention to provide a work piece holder that uses a mechanical drawbar to actuate a collet for grasping and releasing a work piece.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide a method of finishing a work piece using a work piece holder to hold the work piece in the spindle.
It is, moreover, an advantage of the present invention to provide a method of finishing a work piece wherein tools are held in place on a work table and the work piece is moved to each of the tools via the axis movements of the machine.
It is yet another advantage of the present invention to utilize production time of a milling machine more efficiently by eliminating wasted time devoted to tool changes.
It is another advantage of the present invention to provide a machine and method of machining for automating work piece handling throughout a milling or other processing operation.
It is still further an advantage of the present invention to eliminate spindle time devoted to tool changes.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention are described in, and will be apparent from, the detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments and from the drawings.